


Never Say Never

by morningssofgold



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24339406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morningssofgold/pseuds/morningssofgold
Summary: The helplessness began to overwhelm him. Malcolm remembered what it felt like to be helpless, he remembered Gil telling him his ex-girlfriend was dead. He remembered how sad he was at the unfairness of it all. This was nothing like that because this was Dani and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep her safe from harm.What happens when Dani goes missing and Malcolm searches to find her.Requested by @PrettyButt
Relationships: Malcolm Bright / Dani Powell
Comments: 8
Kudos: 61





	Never Say Never

**Author's Note:**

> _Some things we don't talk about_   
>  _Rather do without_   
>  _And just hold a smile_   
>  _Falling in and out of love_   
>  _Ashamed and proud of_   
>  _Together all the while_
> 
> _Never Say Never // The Fray_

_Blue skies no shade_  
_Red flags don't fade_  
_But you stick around_  


The melancholy lyrics of this morning’s inspirational music alarm filtered through Malcolm’s speakers. He hadn’t been feeling very inspired lately and this morning was no different. He hadn’t even removed the caution tape from his door as he’d been alternating his days and nights between the hospital and his mother’s house.

As Malcolm took his medication, the multitude of pills that allowed him to at least function semi-normally, he tried not think about what an absolute _mess_ his life was and even when there _seemed_ to be an escape, there was none.

Malcolm took a deep breath, feeling the weight of everything trying to consume him.

_Read news, life's short_  
_Eight ball, poor sport_  
_But you're not alone_  


The barest hint of a smile crossed his lips despite himself. He wasn’t alone–not really. His mind immediately went to his friend, his partner. _Dani._ He’d thought he was. Somewhere along the lines, his feelings for her had started to change and he hadn’t known how to deal with it. 

Malcolm hadn’t known how to deal with the very real possibility of having to _try_ for the first time–trying and it still not being enough. He remembered upsetting Dani and immediately feeling horrible. His partner was so impenetrable and he’d wounded her–he’d made her cry. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking of himself as someone capable of hurting a person he held in such high regard.

Since then, Malcolm had anticipated Dani’s rejection and the feeling that went along with it. Something intense, terrible and overwhelming that made him not want to try at all despite promising her that he’d do better. 

He’d pushed Dani away. He’d done everything imaginable to make her doubt him but he hadn’t been prepared for how much it _hurt_ when she did. How it hurt for her treat him like any other murder suspect. The one person who’d always believed in him had thought he was capable of murdering a man in cold blood.

_You need to stop lying to us._

_You need to start believing me!_

Malcolm remembered how his frustrations with her had boiled over in the conference room–in front of everyone. The attention he wanted from Dani, he wasn’t getting and the possibility of getting it, appeared to be slipping further away as her own frustration with him became abundantly clear. 

Something else that had become abundantly clear was that they hadn’t been talking about the case anymore. Dani was convinced that everything he’d told her was a lie. That she could trust him–that he’d do better. Malcolm knew his actions hadn’t exactly backed it up but all of those things had been true and he’d _needed_ her to see that. He had good intentions. He did.

Malcolm thought he had been able to show Dani his intentions. That night in the hospital waiting room, he remembered finally solving the one mystery that had haunted him since he was a child, a mystery that came with the very real possibility of him being indicted for First Degree Murder but none of that mattered much, not as he watched his partner barely keeping it together. 

Dani was so strong and she’d always looked out for him. She’d always taken care of him and he’d wanted to do the same for her. He wanted to watch over her when all was crumbling. Other than his family, Malcolm never felt the _need_ to protect someone before but he’d wanted to protect Dani. He watched her hand tremble and he wanted to protect her from everything he knew very well.

Hoisting his work bag over his shoulder as he exited his apartment, Malcolm noticed something underfoot. Squatting down, he realized they were pictures. Pictures of Dani.

At least 30 of them, pictures of Dani leaving her apartment, pictures of Dani on the street, outside the precinct, pictures of the two of them together leaving work as she presumably took him home. Malcolm felt his body go still as he looked at the very last one, Dani through her apartment window, completely unaware that she was being watched. 

His partner was being stalked that he knew for certain. He didn’t know anything else. His mind was suddenly flooded by images of his ex-girlfriend’s decomposing corpse after spending two weeks floating in the Hudson River. Feeling the bile rise up his throat at the idea of seeing Dani that way, Malcolm took a deep breath. He couldn’t afford to panic. He had to find her. Someone obviously wanted him to find her.

Malcolm had to force himself to be calm. He needed to think despite how his hand began trembling. Hurriedly stuffing the photos in his bag, he hailed a cab. He didn’t have time to call for a town car and he wasn’t going to work. 

–––––––––––––––––

Malcolm unlocked the door to Dani’s apartment in Riverdale, he knew where she kept her spare key, despite having never brought her home before. His heart clenched and his throat closed as he wondered how much time he’d wasted with her. How long had he allowed her to do so much for him without doing anything in return. He hoped he wasn't too late and he’d never get the chance to do what he’d been talking himself out of for so long. The thought of that was too painful to imagine.

He’d called her several times on the way over, going to voicemail each time. His anxiety spiked each time she didn’t pick up. Dani _always_ picked up for him. She always had time for him. The guilt of how he’d wasted that time threatened to swallow him whole. 

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind, he was going to find her and he was going to find her _alive_.

“Dani?” he called out as he stepped into her living room. Looking around, he noticed that nothing seemed to be disturbed. He stepped around the fluffy white rugs covering her hardwood floors, realizing right away that his partner wasn’t here. That realization sinking like a stone in the pit of his stomach.

He couldn’t panic, he had to be a profiler. He had to diagnose the situation. He had to gather clues. 

Malcolm stepped into Dani’s bedroom, carefully cataloging his surroundings. Her bed was neatly made, the white bedspread was pulled up and a brown tribal print blanket was folded at the end of it. The tan and orange decorative pillows were arranged in an orderly fashion. He stepped closer, the plant by the window appeared to be freshly watered next to a rolled up yoga mat. He would’ve never pictured his partner as he knew her to be a yogi but seeing the calm, tranquil space she lived in, it made sense. He hated that he was learning so much about Dani _this_ way when he could’ve just asked her. His failings coming back to haunt him once again.

Malcolm looked over at her dresser in the corner. A dirty teardrop shaped makeup sponge next to some dirty makeup brushes, an uncapped lip liner and something called "boy brow" as well as other things he had no name for scattered on top of it.

Clearly, Dani had been here this morning. Everything looked ordinary and that was what worried him because if someone had taken her, they hadn’t left anything behind. No way of telling who they were or what they wanted. If that someone was holding her for ransom, that would be easy because he'd pay anything but no one had contacted him and the pictures were purely for sport. Someone wanted to torture him and it was working.

Racing out of the apartment, Malcolm realized that every second wasted was a second Dani spent in danger. He couldn’t think about all the things he hadn’t done, he had to think of everything he _could do._

_––––––––––––––––––––_

Rushing into the squad room, Malcolm found JT sitting at his desk immersed in paperwork. “JT, what time was Dani supposed to be in today?” Malcolm asked, getting all of that out in a single breath.

“I’m pretty sure _you’d_ know Powell’s schedule better than I would.” JT drawled, glancing up at him before returning to his papers.

Malcolm took a deep breath, feeling the mania tear at the edges of his mind. Gil was still recovering and Dani was missing. He didn’t have the time nor the patience for innuendos, he needed to find Dani.

Malcolm reached into his bag throwing the photos of Dani onto JT’s desk. “Someone left these on my doorstep this morning. I need to know how long ago she was supposed to be here.”

Malcolm watched the Iraq veteran’s face blanch as he flipped through the photos. “Someone left you these?” JT was already getting up, dialing the desk sergeant for Dani’s schedule.

“Yeah, I went to her apartment and she wasn’t there. Her car was…someone has her.” Malcolm said, nearly choking on the words as he followed the veteran detective into the conference room. He didn’t want to be in the conference room, he wanted to be out looking for Dani. Only he didn’t even know where to start, she could be anywhere. 

The helplessness began to overwhelm him. Malcolm remembered what it felt like to be helpless, he remembered Gil telling him his ex-girlfriend was dead. He remembered how sad he was at the unfairness of it all. 

This was nothing like _that_ because _this_ was Dani and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep her safe from harm. The fierceness of that realization should’ve scared him. It should’ve scared him to feel that strongly about someone. He’d mistakenly believed that he could do without those feelings because they’d never be returned but he’d lied to Dani and he’d lied to himself.

He couldn’t do that anymore. He needed to feel that because needed to find her.

––––––––––

“Powell was supposed to be here at 7 and it’s noon.”

“We’ve lost five hours already.” 

Malcolm thought back to how much he knew about Dani, more specifically her past. He realized that he really didn’t know that much because he hadn’t thought to ask. So much of their dealings with each other had been about his pain, his problems. 

The shame churned in his stomach but he couldn’t afford to go down that rabbit hole. When he found Dani, there would be time to learn all about her–if she allowed it at this point. He thought about what he did know about his partner. He remembered she was assigned to Narcotics before working Major Crimes with Gil.

He remembered that well as his curiosity about his pretty co-worker and her past had led him to follow her to one of her old friend’s clubs where they’d proceeded to get caught right in the middle of a shootout between rival drug cartels. 

He’d spent most of the night high on club drugs that had exploded in his face and the rest of the night out cold as Dani had slugged him in the jaw once he’d started tripping–something he’d found oddly charming.

 _That’s it!_ Dani worked in narcotics before this and if his partner had an enemy with a vendetta, he’d be willing to bet it stemmed from someone she’d put away in the past.

“JT, get me a list of all of Dani’s collars in narcotics before her last case with the Haitian cartel.” 

It had to be someone who knew her before then as Gil had taken her under his wing shortly after that. Their boss had not only helped her get clean but he’d treated her like family. Gil had believed in her when she didn’t believe in herself and if anyone could understand what that felt like, Malcolm could.

“On it,” JT quickly exited the room in pursuit of Dani’s closed case files. Malcolm was usually confident in being right when it came to cases but here he couldn’t afford to be wrong. 

Malcolm had failed Dani many times before, he couldn’t fail her now.

–––––––––––––––––––

Her ribs were killing her and it hurt to breathe but she was alive and that was all that mattered. Dani scrambled up from a dirty floor, leaving the lifeless body of her tormentor behind. He wouldn’t be bothering her or anyone else again. 

She remembered going to work like she did every other morning before someone accosted her from behind, pressing a cloth over her nose and the world going dark.

Dani remembered groggily waking up who knows how many hours later in what used to be Serpentine, a club she’d worked at while undercover. It had gone out of business shortly after she’d arrested the owner for trafficking obscene amounts of drugs in and out of it as well as laundering millions. It had been her first big case and probably what had gotten her into Major Crimes even after she’d made the biggest mistake of her life. 

She also remembered coming face to face with a person that she’d long left behind, a person who for months after she’d closed the case had only existed in her nightmares, calling her “Marie,” her alias then and crowing about leaving her rich boyfriend some "memories" as he'd held a gun to her forehead.

Dani didn’t know if it was because her head was spinning but she didn’t know who the hell he was talking about. She had no boyfriend and certainly not a rich one.

Dani had heard the sirens outside and she assumed her team had found her. She was grateful but she’d always saved herself. She would every time because there had always been so few people to do it for her. 

She was an elite fighter and she knew countless ways to disarm someone–several of them without the use of her hands all because she’d only ever had herself. Blindly trying to find her way though the dark and decrepit building, Dani finally found the door. She groaned, realizing that it was locked and finding a key would be hopeless. 

Gathering every bit of strength she had left, she kicked the door out. Trying not to think about how much it _hurt_ –the door gave way and so did she, as she stumbled through the threshold and into a dark alleyway illuminated by the blue and red police lights that surrounded the building. 

Shielding her eyes as her head throbbed at the brightness, Dani waved off the dozens of uniformed officers and SWAT team members, telling them that she was fine and everything was handled. 

“ _Dani!_ ” She turned at the very familiar and very panicked voice of her partner before being crushed in his embrace. Malcolm’s arms wrapping around her tightly, before one of his hands found purchase in her curls. “Oh my God, Dani,” he breathed, his relief palpable.

Her arms wrapped around him automatically as Malcolm held her tight enough to feel his rapidly beating heart through his many tailored layers. 

It was strange being this close to Malcolm when she’d never had been before. Dani rested her head on his shoulder, somehow despite saving herself, only now did she feel like everything would be okay. Only now did she truly feel _safe_.

Malcolm Bright, who was chaos personified did _that_ for her. He put her at ease and he calmed her. He steadied her hand–quite literally. How that came to be, she’d never be able to explain it but it had been that way since that night at the hospital waiting room.

She’d been distraught at the very thought of burying her second father–the only person left in the world who cared about her. 

_You picked up my bad habit._ She hadn’t even realized that Malcolm had arrived back from Connecticut when she looked up, trembling as tears ran down her face. His little smile had been warm and familiar but his pale eyes hadn’t been–the concern and softness she hadn’t really seen, not towards her–not recently. 

He’d squeezed her hand reassuringly, his thumb brushing over her knuckles and his little finger reached out to make sure all her fingers were covered–protected. As she apologized for something that didn’t seem to matter anymore–at least not to him, Malcolm had squeezed her wrist. An incredibly sweet gesture that made her think that he really _wasn’t_ the person he’d been showing her lately. 

From then on, Dani started to entertain the possibility that maybe someone other than Gil cared about her.

Her ribs were throbbing but she couldn’t bear to separate from him. She couldn’t bear to be alone to think about all that had happened to her–all that could’ve happened.

“Oh, sorry. You’re hurt.” Malcolm said, hearing her whimper a bit and quickly pulling back but thankfully, not letting go. His hands on her shoulders, his ice clear eyes wild as he searched every inch of her face as if really making sure that she was in fact here in front of him. “I couldn’t find you…I thought…the pictures...I–" 

Malcolm realized that he was babbling but he couldn’t help it. For over nine hours, the horror film that played in his mind starred Dani. His ex-girlfriend being murdered not too long ago had been difficult to process but that happening to Dani would be unbearable because Dani was irreplaceable.

As he stared at the one person who’d begun to mean so very much to him, Malcolm realized that of all the pain he’d endured recently was worth it so long as he didn’t have to feel that.

–––––––––––––––

“I don’t need to be observed, I’m fine.” Dani said, endlessly frustrated that no one seemed to believe her no matter how many times she said it. 

All Dani wanted was to go home, to curl up on her couch, wrap herself up in her soft oatmeal colored blanket and forget this nightmare of a day ever happened. Instead she was sequestered in this ritzy hospital room that looked more like a hotel room with its cherry wood furnishings and hardwood floors. 

She’d been transported here as soon as the emergency room doctor had decided that she’d needed to stay overnight upon the request of a “Mr. Bright.”

Dani had wondered exactly how Mr. Bright was in a position to make such a request. After inquiring about that very thing, apparently the man who’d actually built the hospital, Charles Milton, was her partner’s grandfather. She had actually been whisked away to the Milton wing that was usually reserved for celebrities to give birth privately and also Malcolm for his intermittent hospital stays. She also guessed that was how he was able to stay despite visiting hours being long over. 

Malcolm quirked an eyebrow from his place on the red velvet loveseat next to her hospital bed. “But you’re not a doctor.”

Dani sighed as she turned her head, staring at the display of her life on the monitor. “I hate hospitals, they remind me of…” _Death_. That’s what she couldn’t say out loud. She was there in the hospital at sixteen when her dad died. She was here not long ago, in agony not knowing whether Gil would live or die.

Her eyes drifted to Malcolm, who said nothing only nodding because he _understood_. He’d been surrounded by death since he was a child. The compassion reflecting through those clear eyes of his, she was still getting used to as for the last few weeks she’d seen nothing but shadow and coldness, frustration and anger. 

Dani knew that he’d been going through a lot–even more than usual. She’d been there when he found out that his girlfriend had scammed him and then subsequently turned up dead. She tried to be there for him despite how much that situation hurt her but at times, Malcolm seemed genuinely angry with _her_. Dani hadn’t understood why when all she’d tried to do was care for him. That was all she’d done from the beginning. 

Malcolm looking at her so softly, it was nice but _different_. She could get used to it. She’d _really_ like to.

He popped up suddenly, coming over to the bed. Malcolm grabbed her chart. “From the looks of things, you only have a few fractured ribs and a mild concussion. So…the good news is you’re not gonna die.” Malcolm said with a sly grin.

“That _is_ good news.” Dani smiled as she knew what Malcolm was doing. It was what she’d always done for him when she noticed the pain overtake him. It was he’d done for her that night in the hospital waiting room. Little jokes were their way of making each other feel better and it always worked.

Malcolm sat on the edge of the bed and Dani immediately scooted over for him. Malcolm took the hint and scooted in as she scooted closer–the two of them drawing together like magnets.

They weren’t in as weird of a place as they were previously but the picture hadn’t exactly gotten any clearer either.

Dani didn’t much care about that now. She was tired– _really_ tired and the pain medication was making her sluggish and her bones heavy. Malcolm was solid and warm. She liked his presence–she liked him close. His arm wrapped around her as she rested her head on his chest.

Dani inhaled the spicy citrus scent of his cologne. She was grateful that for once, she didn’t have to hold herself up. Her partner had decided that _he_ wanted to do it and no one ever had before. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Malcolm ventured, his fingers lightly running along her side.

“Are you being nosy, Bright?”

“Kinda…” Malcolm admitted with a laugh. “What happened though? We didn’t know where you were or who could’ve taken you.”

“Back when I worked in narcotics, I put away one of the top kingpins in the city, Raymond Wolf, by getting close to him. I worked as a bottle waitress in one of his clubs, gathering intel. He didn’t like that he’d been so thoroughly played by a cop and on the day I arrested him, he told me, I’d pay for it.” Dani felt Malcolm’s arm tighten around her at this admission but she continued on. “I didn’t think much of it then but I should have, especially when his charges magically got dropped. He paid someone off I guess…but that’s over now.”

“Uh…how did you…escape?” Malcolm asked, trying but failing to be subtle. She knew what he was asking.

“Wolf outweighed me by about a hundred pounds and my hands were bound so I had to get him on the ground. I wasn’t gonna die today.” Dani said remembering how it felt to lie on that dirty floor, knowing that only one of them would be able to get up and walk away after it was over. “I cut his legs out from under him, found my angle and choked him out.”

“How? You said your hands were bound.” Malcolm looked down at her quizzically.

“My knees.”

Malcolm hummed. “What?” she asked, now looking at him in the same way. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of the little half smile curving his lips. She noticed the little scar above his lip, one of the few imperfections her partner had–reminding her that Malcolm was in fact a real person and not the escaped storybook prince he resembled.

“Nothing. It’s just that I was there when you singlehandedly took down a highly trained assassin and now you’re telling me that you asphyxiated a man with your knees,” his lovely dimpled smile widened and even in her heavily medicated state, Dani felt that strange warmth spread through her. “My partner is actually Lara Croft.”

Dani laughed, then groaned as her ribs reminded her that they were there. Malcolm rubbed her back soothingly. “ _Tomb Raider?_ That’s pretty lowbrow for you, Bright.”

“I know things.” Malcolm said with mock offense. 

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Dani smirked.

“I know that for the last nine hours I was as scared–or more accurately, as _absolutely terrified_ as I’ve ever been. Not knowing if you were okay–if you were alive. It was the worst thing I’ve ever felt.” Malcolm finished quietly, his crystalline eyes as soft as she’d ever seen them.

“I know the feeling,” Dani replied slowly, another admission heavy on her tongue. Malcolm’s brows raised as he waited for her to continue. “When Watkins kidnapped you, that was the worst thing I’ve ever felt.”

Malcolm blinked at her, confusion and disbelief clouding his unreasonably handsome face. “Really?”

“Yeah…when we went to that cabin in the woods and you weren’t there…I don’t know how to describe it but I felt the world end or at least it did for me.” Dani looked up, searching his face, wondering if this was something that would make him run from her again.

This was as honest, as open as she’d ever been about those _feelings_ she had for him. Feelings that were deep and difficult and unwieldy. Feelings that had taken control of her whole heart. Feelings they just didn’t talk about. 

Malcolm appeared to be searching her face too. Looking–hoping that what she told him was the truth. That day in the morgue, he’d given her a tiny piece of his heart before promptly snatching it back. Dani hoped that whatever Malcolm saw in her face now, reassured him so that whatever he gave her tonight, he’d let her keep.

“I know that feeling too.” Malcolm said after several heartbeats passed between them. “Today, the only thing I knew was that I needed you to live...cause if you’re gone, I...don’t know what the point of it all is anymore.”

Dani looked at him as Malcolm looked at her. That connection they shared–the one that kept them tethered to each other despite their distance–strengthened. 

She watched as his eyes drifted to her lips. He was so close, all she’d have to do was crane her neck up, lift her chin and close the distance. She’d always wondered if his lips were as soft as they looked, Dani watched Malcolm bite them as if reading her thoughts.

“Dani! Omigod, we were so worr–" And just like that, the moment was gone just like so many of the same moments that preceded them. Moments they’d never gotten back. The voice of the excitable Medical Examiner broke in and dissipated _something_ that could’ve changed _everything_. 

Dani tore her eyes away from her partner who looked just as affected as she did by their near kiss before landing on the shocked faces of Edrisa and JT. “Thanks guys but I’m okay.”

Actually only Edrisa truly looked shocked–her mouth opening and closing repeatedly as she took in Dani in her hospital bed effectively using Bright as a human body pillow and Bright looking at their really pretty coworker the same way she looked at fresh pints of Häagen-Dazs, lip-licking and all.

JT looked amused as he’d been the one who’d noticed Bright and Powell’s tension-filled exchange in the conference room. With Bright, very few things surprised him as the profiler was a human cyclone in every way and Powell despite being his polar opposite, vibed with him on that level. JT didn’t know the extent of their relationship but after seeing them all boo’d up in a hospital bed, he honestly didn’t want to.

“Sorry to interrupt but I’m glad you’re in one piece” JT remarked, getting out his notepad, ignoring whatever it was he was looking at. “How’d all of this happen anyway, Powell?”

“Are you taking my statement?” Dani’s lips quirked up in a tired smile, her eyelids drooping a bit as she tried to focus on her good friend. She was so close to tapping out and Malcolm wasn’t helping things as she felt his fingers lightly winding through her curls.

“Can’t you do that another time?” Malcolm frowned, ignoring JT’s dry look and Edrisa’s bemusement. Dani had a concussion, recounting something horrible wasn’t going to help her condition. 

“It’s okay.” Dani murmured, squeezing Malcolm’s fingers gently. “When they let me leave, I’ll write the statement myself and JT can sign off on it.”

“Works for me” JT shrugged. “I’ll leave you in the care of Nurse Bright then.”

“Best bedside manner around.” Malcolm smirked, pun obviously intended, before wincing a bit at Edrisa’s somewhat wounded expression. He sighed internally. It was common knowledge about the Medical Examiner’s rather overzealous infatuation with him and he hoped he hadn’t hurt her feelings.

_–––––––––––––_

“Well, that was awkward.” Malcolm said after JT had ushered Edrisa out of the room, closing the door behind them. He has grateful for some alone time with Dani–if only so he could see to it that she got some rest.

“I don’t even wanna think about how weird it’s gonna be now.” Dani mumbled, tucking closer to Malcolm’s side, wanting to absorb his warmth.

“So don’t. I think you’ve had enough trauma for one day.” Dani could hear the wry smile in Malcolm’s voice. “Just rest, Dani.”

She groaned as the idea of _resting_ in a hospital made her skin crawl. “Are you sure you can’t sneak me outta here?”

Malcolm laughed, a soft rumble beside her ear before whispering, “I probably could but I’m not going to.” 

_Now, he decides to follow rules_ , Dani thought. If her eyes were open she’d undoubtably be rolling them. “It’s just the idea of being alone here…it creeps me out.”

“But you won’t be. I’m here and I got you.” Malcolm said softly as his other arm wrapped around her, enfolding her completely. His actions matching his words for the first time in a long time.

––––––––––––––

“Bright?” Dani asked after awhile just as the medicine was about to drag her under. 

“Yeah?” Malcolm’s fingers lightly ran up and down her arm, she knew he was hoping she’d fallen asleep. 

“Thanks…” He could’ve gone home. He didn’t have to be here with her and she was a little surprised he still was–that he still wanted to be.

For what?” Malcolm was genuinely confused as to why Dani was thanking him. She was so earnest and it reminded him of when she’d apologized for doubting him that night. Even when Dani was hurting–hurt–she was thinking about others, thinking about _him_. Malcolm didn’t know why, he couldn’t explain it but something about that broke his heart. 

Actually, he did know why.

Dani _cared_ about him–she cared a lot and he hadn’t done very much to make her believe that he cared about her just as much. He _hated_ seeing her upset or in pain. Being here with her–making sure she rested without feeling afraid or alone was second nature to him. Malcolm didn’t _choose_ to stay with her–there was nowhere else he’d rather be. Leaving her side simply hadn’t occurred to him.

When he’d practically begged Dani to believe him. He didn’t just mean about the case or that he wasn’t a killer. He wanted her to believe that he was more than his fear, his misgivings.

“For being the first person I saw when I got outta there…” She knew she was barely coherent at this point but she had to say _something_. Time, time and time again neither of them elected to say anything. “I dunno, despite everything, I felt like I wasn’t gonna fall apart just as long as you didn’t let go.”

Dani felt Malcolm’s lips press to her forehead, lingering longer than he had to. “I know a lot of promises I’ve made, I haven’t kept but even if you fall apart, I promise I’ll _always_ be here to put you back together again.”

“I believe you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you @PrettyButt for requesting. I hope I was able to give you what you're looking for. Also some of the things mentioned were discussed endlessly with @2amEuphoria, thanks as always for your insight.
> 
> The other song mentioned here is "Swim Home" by Cautious Clay


End file.
